On Friday, All Things D said that its sources have told them that Apple would hold an "invitation-only" event on October 23rd where the long rumored mini version of Apple's tablet will finally be made official. As far back as December 2010, a picture showed what was rumored to be a miniature version of the Apple iPad although it was never confirmed. Now, 22 months later, the device looks to be a reality. One Wall Street analyst, who got to play with the device while touring Asian component suppliers, called it a more mobile version of Apple's tablet that easily slipped into the pocket on his sports coat while fitting his palm like a glove.

Using a mockup to compare the size of the Apple iPad mini

In pricing the device at around the same price point where the low priced 7 inch Android tablets reside, Apple will be giving up some of its profit margin in order to defend its extremely high market share in the tablet market. A recent survey from IDC showed the Apple iPad with a commanding 68.2% of the global tablet market. During the recent patent trial with Samsung, Apple said that its profit margin on U.S. sales of the iPad ranged from 23% to 32% from October 2010 through March 2012. Considering that Amazon has said that it sells its $199 tablet at cost, there is not going to be much room for Apple to make money. This could be the beginning of a crack in the company's earnings that the bears on Apple's stock have been looking for. Apple's shares have recently tumbled from the $700 level hit after the release of the Apple iPhone 5 to the current price near $630, a 10% decline.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu says that if Apple prices the Apple iPad mini in the $299-$349 range, it will keep the same profit margins as it has with the larger version of the tablet. Even if it prices the tablet below $299, Wu says that the Cupertino based firm can still make a decent profit by limiting native storage on the device to 8GB instead of the 16GB on the larger model. The Apple iPad mini is rumored to be Wi-Fi only with Apple keeping data connectivity for its higher priced models.

59.thelegend6657 (unregistered)

its a great little device , its cheap it is a very good gift during christmas , suitable for almost anyone . Its sexy and thin + beautiful .

Well many people say you could get a Android phone for the money why buy the iPod touch ? Well if you already have an Android or iPhone another cheap android phone dont make sense . But if you are like me have an android phone already the iTouch makes a good companion . Besides it gives you the best spec at the price range . At USD200 no android phones without contract can give you such a nice specs .

How when it'll sell millions of units, and have a rock solid OS and build quality. It'll have iTunes, ios6, the app store, and a strong name brand to help move it. It seems obvious u don't like apple, hence the epic fail but maybe u should look at it from a neutral standpoint vs an apple hater one.

60.thelegend6657 (unregistered)

Well everyone has their own opinion but extremist is not good . Religion is not a bad thing but extremist disrupt peace just like what does muslim extremist burn buddhist temples , kill jews , and 911 incident .

I think android extremist are very similar to Muslim extremist . Its android or nothing . They hate on anything else and wont try other products . I mean i have apple and android products i am a techgeek on a fanboy and i f**king hates fanboys

Depends on how much people want portability. The iPod is the same size as the iPhone 5, so it's wry portable and easy to use with one hand and fit n a pocket. The iPad mini still will need to b carried like a magazine, and put in something. So thy both will appeal to people depending on what they wanna carry.

We have something for that, It is called the Phablet, and there is actually a market for it! I'm personally looking for a ~5" screened device to replace a Droid X I've been using as a beater. I was thinking the Galaxy player 5.0 (it is significantly more powerful than the X, even with it's outdated specs) but Sammy just announced a new player device so I'm waiting for it.....

23.wendygarett (unregistered)

Actually I agree your statement... And this news does prove you're right... Mr. Cook has a vision that Apple will doom if he accept all job's word that iPad must be 9.7 inch...

Not because I want to criticize you, it just that IDK... I want something that can convince me enough to see how bad the Apple are now... It's really hard for me to believe that iPad now 50% only of market share... And what I see in news and the daily life that iPad rema

24.wendygarett (unregistered)

Actually I agree your statement... And this news does prove you're right... Mr. Cook has a vision that Apple will doom if he accept all job's word that iPad must be 9.7 inch...

Not because I want to criticize you, it just that IDK... I want something that can convince me enough to see how bad the Apple are now... It's really hard for me to believe that iPad now 50% only of market share... And what I see in news and the daily life that iPad remains popular...

No harm feelings ok? It just an iPad... And I'm now gonna try an android tablet... How about kindle fire... To see how good it is...

My father is a Pulmonologist ( Or a doctor who specializes in pulmonary medicine ) not to be bias here, but he is pretty smart. My mom gave him an iPad for christmas and he loves it. He has some medical apps on there he uses with his clients, and plays games sometimes. He doesn't care about customization, he just cares about things working. ( Not saying that android doesn't work, calm down fanboys)

The preteens on this site are quite annoying calling every person with an iPad an idiot, when I'm pretty sure my dad is smarter than 95% of the people who use this site.

We do responsive sites for clients where we need that browser cache/cookie be cleareed repeatedly as we test corrections/formatting. It's a real PAIN on ipad to keep going back to settings via home screen to keep clearing cache and then come back to browser. What a PAIn when comapred to Android where we just have the Settings menu from where it's just a clear cache/cookie and then refresh.

Feel crrippled while testing on ipad after working on a android device unless we are missing something. It's a real waste of time.

All content (phone reviews, news, specs, info), design and layouts are Copyright 2001-2015 phoneArena.com. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part or in any form or medium without written permission is prohibited! Privacy . Terms of use . Cookies . Team